The Screaming Krimi

Opening titles of Edgar Wallace-derived krimi DER HEXER, directed Alfred “DEAD EYES OF LONDON” Vohrer. One the one habd, I find krimi a lot more charming and less skin-crawling than gialli, their Italian cousins. Somehow, the Germans, perhaps having gotten all their misanthropy out during the war, are much less appalling and creepy than the Italians when it comes to making sinister and nonsensical crime shockers. On the other hand, the lack of that element of malaise can sometimes make the krimi seem a bit flat compared to the more bracingly scabrous, woman-hating world of the gialli.

2 Responses to “The Screaming Krimi”

hey that was GrOoVy!..dig that opening number!..”everybody do the Der Hexer!”..hexer der Go-gO….Thats interesting..Iwasn’t aware of the Krimi title for these things…I just knew them germans seem to really love that Edgar Wallace!..lol..I can’t picture Wallace as the guy who wrote king kong after seeing these..

Wallace’s involvement in Kong has been the subject of some debate. The project already existed as an idea, and Wallace dropped dead pretty soon after signing the contract to write it, so I gather it’s been suggested that his credit was really just to exploit his fame. Maybe somebody else knows more about this.

Wallace really was incredibly popular in the UK: 1/3 of all books sold were by him, or something insane like that. His success seems to have lasted a bit longer in Germany, where his less able son was able to cash in.